Category Archives: Marketing

The term marketing implies the single goal of profit. It is categorized into two, direct marketing and indirect marketing and there is a significant line of difference between the two. Direct marketing is basically business from manufacturer to consumer without the involvement of middlemen, whoever it is. This is generally done by mailing the consumer or contacting him directly, so he can know about the products. The use of media advertisements is very limited and whatever little use is made includes only the demonstration of their products with call back numbers. Direct marketing is a boon and a bane, both in some respects:

Advantages:
– Direct marketing involves direct business. So it is cost beneficial for consumers, as there is no price hike due to wholesalers or retailers.
– Marketing executives can state certainly of the exact response to their products.
– The profit or loss can be more accurately judged.

Disadvantages:
– Sometimes, direct mailing offends the customers and many do not endorse it as they say it inhibits their private lives.

But most marketing managers are in support of this kind of business. The various forms in which direct business is made are:

– Direct mailing: Here, paper mails are sent to the selected groups of people, who likely to give positive response e.g. the paper mails of latest food processor is sent to all homes where house wives are resident so that immediate response is seen. Also CDs can be used as demonstrating media.

– Email Marketing: Here, emails are sent to all the selected customer categories with repeated intervals of time. But most of these are put into trash and spams. So the effectiveness of this form cannot be predicted.

– Telemarketing: In telemarketing, calls are made directly to the consumers and the concerned product is advertised. People sit at call centers to sell products on behalf of their clients. But this form of direct business is quite unpopular and most people oppose the uninvited calls. It was initially made illegal but later on new laws were re-enforced and calls are now made only to those who don’t mind them.

– Voicemail: Telemarketing created a lot of consumer opposition and consumers would abuse the ones advertising on the phones. In order to avoid this, voicemail marketing was introduced, wherein; the entire advertisement is digitally recorded and presented.

– Use of coupons: Coupons are attached to direct mails and sent to the consumers. These generally advertise and give cost benefit to the consumers. So they avail these coupons and respond fast.

– Television marketing: Advertisements are given on the television and demos are with toll-free call back numbers or certain websites for the consumer to get in touch with the manufacturers.

– Broadcast faxing: This is the least popular form of direct marketing. The ads are directly faxed to the consumers.

Direct marketing can thus become successful only if the entanglements with the consumer are good. It can be B2B or B2C. It measures exact consumer response.

Marketing environment is made up of all the factors and forces that influence marketing. These forces can be internal like departments (other than marketing such as finance department and human resource department) or external like competitors, suppliers, economic or political situation. To understand them better, marketing personals divide them in two categories namely macro environment and microenvironment. Lets have a look at some of the important factors involved in marketing environment.

Internal factors:
All the departments involved in business management affects the process of marketing as well, for example the finance or research department in large enterprises. Marketing department is bound to keep their expenses under the budget set by the finance managers or to consider recommendations from the research department. Similarly the supplies and collections can have an impact on marketing as well.

Customer markets:
Different types of customers markets include consumer markets (B2C), business markets (B2B), government markets (B2G), also a new type of customer market has emerged as a result of globalization i.e. international market. Where most other departments will treat these markets similarly, marketing team has to treat them all in different manner. Though most advertising campaigns are targeted to consumer market, the type of customer market does affect marketing decisions on the whole.

Competition:
Competition is becoming more and more influential in a company’s approach towards marketing. Competition stems from the business that is offering the same product as yours. A business has to counter this competition through marketing; some times businesses do try to have a hit at their competitors in advertisements (though not candidly). The level of competition is also a decisive factor when planning on how much to spend on marketing.

Different types of publics:
Another important microenvironment factor is the publics (government, consumer associations, financial or media publics). All of them can have an affect (positive or negative) on company’s reputation and marketing.

Demography:
Good marketing managers tend to spend plenty of time in conducting demographic research for their targeted consumers. Demography is the research of gender, age, race or anything else related to consumers. International businesses are concerned about various races (Asians, Hispanics, etc) and their different set of demands. While the terms like “baby boomers” or “generation X” were invented to reflect the specific age groups of consumers.

Economic Factors:
All the variables of economic markets like inflation, rate of exchange, fiscal policies and monetary policies fall under macro environment factors. They affect all businesses, and needless to say their marketing efforts as well.

Other Factors:
Other notable macro and microenvironment factors are marketing intermediaries, political stability (or instability), new technologies or natural forces.

Do your customers love your products & Services & often tell you that you should take your presences nationwide? (Global)

Do you have a unique business concept that if you could just get people to sell it for you know it would be huge hit?

Do you have a great product or service but you are struggling to get / find commissioned sales people that will sell it for you?

There are common questions/ challenges faced by small / medium business owners.

When we try to find strategic Solution to any of above problems one sample solution emerge which answers all above fretrationr for growth the solution ties in franchising our business.

Franchising is a very effective route to expand your business operations in fastest time frame.

Lets see our market place to identify 3 major business brands which are highly successful today in playing a dominant role in the market.

1. Delhi Public School
2. Career Launchers
3. Mothers Pride’s Play School

We know these businesses have grown fantastically taking franchising route to success.
It is very successful at profitable method, why very few small business owners utilized franchise method.
The reasons are given below:-

1- People think it is too complicated

2. They fear they will lose control.

3. They believe it is very expensive

4. They don’t think they have a business that can be franchised.
or
5. Most importantly they don’t know how to proceed ahead. They never got started.

All the above fears are incorrect. The fact is that all businesses can be franchised to grow phenomenally.

There are 10 business areas that make your business ready to franchise route to success:-

1. You need to have good business concept- products/ services. It need not be completely new ideas. Look around to notice how may CAT coaching centers/ playschools are franchised profitably.

2. You need good operational system. This means many of your operations have set procedures/ systems/ methods.

3. Business must be sample to understand. You should be able to teach it to other people in short period of time.

4. Your business needs to make money. If business is not profitable, No point in franchising. You should know if your franchisee can earn at lease 15% profit / return on investment.

5. You must plan by to manage a corporation. You will be managing larger business. So mindset of franchiser and management skills are keys to success.

6. Your business must have some VSP (unique selling proposition) so it looks attractive to investors.

7. Your business must have appeal to people in other cities / regions/ states. The demand of the product must be widespread.

8. Your business plan does not complete with any very large dominant competitor.

9. The inventory used in your business must need finance. You must create financial leverage so it is best to have assets that can be financed.

10. You must be willing to take professional advice you will need to franchise your business.
It is a new give to super success and it has its own rules.

Franchising is a strategic marketing step to expand your business in shortest possible time.

You will be surprised to know that despite downturn in the economy, franchising route to growth has proved successful. Its a winning strategy.

According to Wikipedia: “Cost Per Action or CPA (sometimes known as Pay Per Action or PPA) is an online advertising pricing model, where the advertiser pays for each specified action (a purchase, a form submission, and so on) linked to the advertisement. Direct response advertisers consider CPA the optimal way to buy online advertising, as an advertiser only pays for the ad when the desired action has occurred. An action can be a product being purchased, a form being filled, etc. The desired action to be performed is determined by the advertiser.”

There are several advantages of CPA affiliate marketing to someone just starting out online as a home business owner. CPA marketing is widely recognized as one of the easiest ways to make money online because of the low cost of entry into the marketplace as well as the support available from the different CPA Networks residing on the Internet.

Once you’ve decided to get involved with CPA affiliate marketing the next step is to check out the different CPA networks online and choose one which appeals to you and apply for admission. When you get accepted by a network you become an affiliate and the network sets you up with offers from different companies who want your website traffic to perform some specific action in order for you, as the affiliate, to get paid.

One of the main advantages of CPA affiliate marketing is, in most cases, you don’t have to make an actual sale in order to be paid. Most companies pay for lead generation; so if you capture a name and email address or have someone complete a form or survey then you are paid.

Another advantage of CPA marketing is the availability of these CPA networks for you to join. When you’re accepted by a network then you’re supplied with these different offers to promote from companies by the network. You don’t have to seek out these opportunities because they are supplied for you by the CPA program.

Because these companies want you to be successful as an affiliate they will supply you with much of the advertising and promotional materials needed to market their opportunity. This is another benefit because the advertising is basically taken care of and all you need to supply is the targeted traffic.

The CPA network does all the tracking for you as well and house your account details which you can access at anytime. One of the best things about working with a cost per action network is that you can promote several opportunities, covering a wide variety of specialty markets and get one commission check for all of your earnings combined.

Also, most CPA networks will provide support in the form of an affiliate agent who will help you get started by providing initial training and also answer any questions you may have. Most CPA networks offer several opportunities with the most popular programs offering up to 1,500 different products or services from their list at any given time. These networks also have very limited barriers to entry and pay their affiliates on a timely basis in order to retain them.

These are some of the benefits offered by a not so widely known affiliate marketing technique, cost per action marketing, which can help you generate a significant income in a relatively short period of time.

With all the economic hiccups and credit crunches happening worldwide, many people are always on the lookout on how they can improve or mend their financial situations. Usually, they take extra work on top of their day jobs. With these, it is no wonder why many people are getting curious at network marketing jobs.

What is network marketing?
Network marketing can be referred to as a marketing technique or strategy that involves independent agents to get in touch with prospective clients in exchange for a specific amount of commission for the sales that they are able to make as well as the sales made by the other people in which that agent has sponsored into the business. Usually agents who are engaged in network marketing have the option to do their work on their free time for a specific number of hours or on a full time basis. If you are thinking of taking such type of work, here are a few things you should know before getting involved in network marketing.

Compensation Through Recruitment-

You must avoid any network marketing companies that offer compensation plans, which include payments coming purely from recruiting other distributors. This may be a sign that the network marketing company you are talking to is just a pyramid scheme.

Purchasing a Set of Expensive Products or Items in Advance-

You should also watch out for network marketing companies that will require their new distributors to buy a set of expensive items or products in advance. This is another sign of a pyramiding scheme and this will just collapse quickly.

Making Money Through a Downline-

You must also be cautious when a network marketing company would offer you plan where you will only make money if you constantly expand your downline instead of sales through products. Real network marketing jobs must not depend on the recruitment of other distributors to earn or by expanding the downline.

Get the Facts Straight-

Most network marketing companies have products related to health. If the network marketing company claims that their products have extensive health benefits, you have to get that information validated before believing or repeating them. The facts need to backed up by real validation and not just by the words of the representative that you are talking to.

Scrutinize What They are Saying About Incomes-

Other network marketing representatives would entice you to join their network marketing company by providing you information about the potential income that you can have or their current earning marks. However, you must be watchful and as much as you can scrutinize what they are saying since those using the pyramiding scheme will lie about their actual earnings just so you will join.

Never Be Pressured-

When joining a legit network marketing company, representatives will never pressure you or put you on the spot in such a way that you will feel compelled to join or sign contracts. They should allow you to take your time so you can think about their proposal more as well as weigh the pros and cons of the business for you.

Network marketing, just like any business, is not risk-free. Moreover, there would be certain individuals who might take advantage of the economic bumps just so they can recruit people in doing non-beneficial network marketing scheme. You must always be cautious and always think about things thrice. Remember these few things you should know before getting involved in network marketing.